Very comprehensive review of both strengths and weaknesses.. As I was reading especially your comparator queer…
thank you for reading! yes, i agree egoist (2022) is a great reference in this context.
it is certainly obvious from the discourse about this show and many others like it in recent years that we seem to have completely lost and corrupted the meaning of "queer." you make a great point about the normalization of bls that lack any queer politics or narrative meaning because these are the very series that have come to define the genre in the last few years of it reaching its maximum mainstream status, and in line with that, they are why so many international fans treat asian queer media as being the same as western queer media and criticize it when it does not follow that same pattern.
it seems a lot of people don’t know where they can watch this show with english subs and most previous links seem to no longer work so here — go to this link> https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7wljbs and they have all the episodes on their channel
i think this was the director’s cut but if it isn’t, as it’s been some time since i watched it, the director’s cut scenes are still available on youtube. hope this helps!
of course this is all true but there is still something to be said about why the writers/producers decided this storyline would be better executed with a minor female student
it is certainly obvious from the discourse about this show and many others like it in recent years that we seem to have completely lost and corrupted the meaning of "queer." you make a great point about the normalization of bls that lack any queer politics or narrative meaning because these are the very series that have come to define the genre in the last few years of it reaching its maximum mainstream status, and in line with that, they are why so many international fans treat asian queer media as being the same as western queer media and criticize it when it does not follow that same pattern.
OR go to this link> https://www2.myasiantv.ch/show/friend-forever-2020/episode-1 > click on option 6 (but some episodes don’t work i think)
i think this was the director’s cut but if it isn’t, as it’s been some time since i watched it, the director’s cut scenes are still available on youtube. hope this helps!